Apr 14 You Can't Legislate Love

I've been wanting to address the issue of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) but haven't had the slightest idea how. Praying these words reach whomever they reach with compassion, sincerity, and love:
I would say that I was surprised that there is even a necessity for this law to be passed given that our freedom of religion has already been provided to us by our Bill of Rights, but I'm not actually surprised at all.

Because it would seem as though we have gone from a society that allows one another to practice their rights freely to an obnoxiously litigious society where certain individuals believe that their rights are more important than the rights of others. We are now able to quickly hire a lawyer to sue anyone who believes, thinks, acts, walks, or even breathes differently than we do. We can sue companies because we spilled our coffee on ourselves and THEY didn't tell us it was hot! (See Leibeck vs McDonald's restaurants - I'm sure she was a nice lady, I'm just saying.)

Which brings me to the RFRA. It would seem to me that conservative officials have deemed this law necessary in fear that they themselves as well as the constituents they represent may be sued or even criminalized if they are under the moral conviction that they can not serve someone based on their sexuality.

Enter: the fine line of moral conviction and discrimination.

To my non-believer friends, I want to ask you a question:

If you had a parent, beloved mentor, or best friend, ask you not to do something because they knew it would not be good for you or for your friends and family, would you still do it?

Because that is what Christians feel you are asking from us when you want to force us to marry individuals whom God asks us not to marry.

And to my fellow Christians:

First of all, we should in NO WAY be turning customers or community members of any sexual orientation away from the love we know in Jesus. (Also not what the RFRA is calling us to do despite the claims of the media).

If they want flowers, sell them flowers. If they want cake, give them cake!! I can bet you money someone probably made Donald Trump and his 3 wives a wedding cake! Should we make a law that legislates our right to refuse service to customers unless they sign a contract saying they REFUSE to get divorced?!

No.

So why is this law really something WE should be upset about or fighting for? Are we really living in fear that you might be sued or jailed for refusing to marry someone (most of you probably aren't even certified to do so). Or maybe you don't want to take pictures at the wedding - are we really that ill-equipped and uneducated in God's word that we wouldn't be able to handle that situation with the appropriate amount of love and grace?

And if we've done all that, taken the loving steps of conflict resolution, God-forbid we are sued or jailed for following Christ!!

Paul was beaten, jailed, and tortured! Some say he spent nearly a quarter of his life in prison. Not only that, most all of the disciples were CRUCIFIED!

Not sued. Not attacked in court. Not imprisoned in a nice orange suit.

Nailed to two pieces of wood until they suffocated to death.

I think, many Christian Americans do have good intentions when they want to legislate the goodness and truth we know to be true, but I also think that many American Christians have decided to legislate out of fear of prosecution.

And when you do that, in the hypersensitive society that we live in, you legislate division.

And that is a disservice to the body of Christ.

We need to stop legislating and start loving.

Stand strong in your convictions. But do so with the incredible amount of love, grace, and compassion that Jesus showed us on the cross. And if we are prosecuted, give God the glory.

Then and only then...will we spread the Gospel more effectively. Just like it was spread in the times when Caesar ruled and the disciples remained strong.

"For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
- 2 Corinthians 12:10

(Note: I am not endorsing nor not endorsing the RFRA. I'm merely suggesting that in a perfect world, it would not be necessary).

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In a conversation with my roommates the other day, I compared walking through this life with walking through a minefield...

There would be some seasons of life where we would be walking in between the buried land mines, but we were bound to step on a few along the way.

That was my life advice for our conversation that we were having about all the many changes that life brings and all the hard things we seem to have to go through to learn and grow.

To which my roommate so lovingly and semi-sarcastically responded, "Wow, Anna. That was really helpful."

lol.

If you know me well, you know that I can tend to take a slightly critical view on things. I'd like to say I am a realist, but I also know I can lean towards the overly critical.

So the sarcastic admonishment from my friend was well deserved.

And while it has been said before - and with great truth - that we are either preparing for a storm, walking through one, or coming out of one, we as Christians can not use these phrases as an excuse to have a negative view on this life we've been given.

Growing up in the Arizona desert, rain can come to feel like just as exciting of a phenomenon as snow on Christmas Day.

Things aren't much different here in Texas.

When it rain we immediately have to drive 10mph on roads where the normal speed limit is 65mph. We take videos, don't leave our houses, and will use it as an excuse to not go to the grocery store, run errands, or skip church.

You think I'm kidding...

Nevertheless rain is not something we can go without. Not even in Texas or Arizona.